At last year's Golden Globes, Time's Up reigned supreme, with bold black dotting the red carpet as women and their allies made a statement about the changes they wanted to see in Hollywood—and the world at large. This year, that same message of empowerment became bolder, bigger, and broader, permeating gender and race lines. From the very beginning of the night, host Sandra Oh took a break from the jokes to look seriously into the camera. With tears visible in her eyes, Oh, the first Asian-American to ever host the Globes, said, "I said yes to the fear of being on this stage tonight because I wanted to be here to look out to this audience and witness this moment of change. And I'm not fooling myself, next year could be different—it probably will be—but right now this moment is real."

When Regina King won for best supporting actress in a motion picture for her performance in If Beale Street Could Talk, she waved away the exit music to make an important pledge. "In the next two years, and it's going to be hard, I'm making a vow that everything I produce…[will be] 50 percent women," she said, as the Beverly Hills Hilton auditorium erupted in cheers. "And I challenge everyone out there who is in a position of power, in all industries, I challenge you to challenge yourself and stand with us in solidarity and do the same."

The men, too, got in on the action, with Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse co-director Peter A. Ramsey reminding viewers that anyone can be a superhero. "We were trying to make a movie that spoke to the idea that anyone can be behind the mask," he said. "We're telling the story of Miles Morales, a kid from Brooklyn, African American, Puerto Rican... Anybody can be behind the mask. We're counting on you. You can do it."

Glenn Close brought the audience to tears and elicited a standing ovation for her speech after winning best actress for The Wife, a film adapted from the Meg Wolitzer novel of the same name, about a woman who stands in the shadows supporting her less-than-appreciative husband's work. Close is known for being outspoken about taboo topics—as a long-term mental health advocate, she started the group Bring Change to Mind to help foster empathy around mental illness after her sister was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and her nephew was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

"I'm thinking of my mom, who sublimated herself to my father her whole life," Close said at the Globes. "And in her eighties, she said to me, 'I feel I haven't accomplished anything.' And it was so not right, and I feel what I've learned through this whole experience is women, we're nurturers—that's what's expected of us. We have our children. We have our husbands, if we're lucky enough, and our partners, whoever. But we have to find personal fulfillment. We have to follow our dreams. We have to say, 'I can do that. And I should be allowed to do that.'"

I can do that. I should be allowed to do that. If there's a more fitting mantra for today's times, we haven't found one. The real award this year went to empowerment, and we're applauding wholeheartedly.